



'^^ 



TWO SERMONS 



Preacf)ctr in tijc Cf}urc{j of tfje ©nttg, 

April 23C 1865. 



I. 

ON THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

II. 
DUTIES SUGGESTED BY THE NATIONAL GRIEF. 



By GEORGE H. HEPWORTH, 

PASTOE OF THE SOCIETY. 



BOSTON: 
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY, 

BY JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
1865. 



•V 






DISCOURSES. 



■si. 



'^ ON THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

MATTHEW IX. 15: 

" Can the Children of the Bridechamber mourn, as long 

AS the Bridegroom is with them ? BUT THE DAYS 

. WILL COME WHEN THE BRIDEGROOM SHALL BE 

TAKEN FROM THEM, AND THEN SHALL THEY 

^ FAST." 

^ ~|3 RETHREN, last Thursday morning I read to you 

, JlJ the first part of tlie verse which I have chosen for 

A my text. It was a day appointed for fasting, humiliation, 

and prayer ; but so signal had been the victories of the 

i" few preceding days, that this people, with one accord, 

^ united their voices in a great chorus of thanksgiving. 

^ Little dreamed we then, that so soon the latter clause of 

my text would call this mourning nation to the saddest 

duty of its life. 

AVho can measure the great grief of this people ? The 
blow came so unexpectedly, that we hardly yet know 
how to express our feelings in fitting words. Each man 
weeps for a friend in the loss of this our foremost Ameri- 
can Citizen. When the dreadful tidings first flashed upon 
our hearts, it seemed too appalling to be credible ; we 
struggled against it. " The wires have played us false," 
we said ; and we almost grew indignant with the tamed 

1* 



X 



I 022922 



lightning, which, but a few hours before, had thrown the 
whole nation into such a bewilderment of joy, as it told 
us the story of the fall of Richmond ; and which now 
changed our joy into the very bewilderment of woe, as it 
wrote upon the bulletin, " The President is dead ! " We 
did not know how much we loved that good man, nor 
how much confidence we had reposed in him, until the 
fearful certainty of our loss assured us. Was ever pub- 
lic officer so sincerely mourned before ? Every home of 
the North will drop its tear of genuine sorrow upon his 
grave ; for mothers sent their boys to do the dreadful 
work of war all the more willingly because our Com- 
mander-in-Ciiief was so prudent, careful, and thoughtful ; 
every hamlet will learn the lesson of the hour from its 
draped pulpit, when the preacher will tell how fell the 
unsullied patriot from the affections of the whole people 
into the bosom of immortal life ; every city, from where 
the Atlantic wave moans its sorrows to the rising sun, to 
where the Pacific sighs out its grief to the sinking orb, 
testifies its respect and love for the great man, by those 
emblems which sadly decorate every public building, if 
not every private residence, and which always tell us that 
the people's heart is heavy. 

Brethren, it is not merely a brave warrior whom 
America mourns. No battle-chieftain, however great 
his exploits in the field of danger and of conquest, could 
ever rouse such love as this we bear to Abraham Lincoln. 
It is not merely the clearness and sagacity of his mind 
that most we miss. No philosopher, however gifted, 
ever rested so securely in the affections of the whole 
community. No : these tears are shed for one who, 
standing on an eminence so high that few would not be 
made dizzy by it, walked humbly, honestly, and faith- 
fully ; doing the greatest work of many a century as a 
servant of the people, and a servant of God. We felt 



that the Republic was safe while he stood at its head. 
In those seasons of great public excitement, when great 
and important questions were to be decided, — questions 
affectinor our welfare in the distant future, and our rela- 
tions to foreign powers, — he was the calmest man in the 
country ; and many and many a time, when we have 
rebelled against his judgment, and given way to passion- 
ate criticism, we have learned to regret our own heat, 
and wonder at his serenity. Ah ! where shall we not 
miss him ? His influence was potent within the halls of 
Congress, shaping the legislation which is to affect us 
when the glad morn of peace comes ; it was felt in all 
the ramifications of our foreign and domestic policy, 
tempering all decrees by a statesmanship, not more re- 
markable for its sagacity than for its kind consideration 
of all parties ; and it will be felt by every soldier in the 
field in whose heart the destinies of his native land and 
the name of Abraham Lincoln have been so intimately 
interwoven. 

In 1809, in a little village in Kentucky, beneath the 
thatched roof of a poor man's cottage, was born a child, 
whose prospects for the future seemed very limited. He 
received from his parents nothing but poverty and a 
good name. His childhood was in ho degree remarkable. 
There were no foreshadowings of the greatness to be 
achieved ; and very few of those traditions of wonderful 
precocity, which, in some mysterious way, cluster about 
every eminent name. His library consisted of a well- 
thumbed Bible ; and his fortune, of an empty purse. He 
passed the first thirty years of his life upon that monoto- 
nous plane on which every poor farmer's boy lives. He 
spent his days in driving the team afield, in caring for 
the little flock as it wound slowly o'er the lea, and in the 
common drudgery which marks the lowly position he 
occupied. 



When he was on the threshold of middle life, a resi- 
dent of a village in Illinois, he was intrusted with some 
slight responsibility by his fellow-citizens. He was re- 
garded with kindness because he had been something of a 
traveller, and an observer of men and things, — having 
made a voyage down the lordly Mississippi ; and because 
he had given his services to the Government in the 
Black-IIawk AYar, and shown no lack of courage, but 
rather a quiet persistency and fearlessness, which added 
to the lustre of the shoulder-straps which made him 
a captain. Having served his constituents faithfully in a 
minor position, he began that slow and toilsome journey 
of promotion, which is marked at every step by honesty 
of purpose, aud which ended when, obedient to the will of 
the North, he modestly assumed the position of President 
of the United States. 

Never have I been more proud of my country than 
when, gazing upon the lowly spot on which he was born, 
and the straitened circumstances of his youth, and then 
upward to the proud position he won for himself, I re- 
membered that in America we have no royal circle from 
whose narrow limits the rulers of the kingdom are cho- 
sen, while the gaping multitude look on in open-mouthed 
wonder ; but that every boy on the continent has royal 
blood in his veins ; and, if he but will it, he shall rise, 
forgetful of his humble origin, — nay, nay, forgive me, 
■proud of his humble origin, — to the most responsible 
positions in the land. Happy country, which sees the bril- 
liant light of promise and of hope in the eye of every boy ! 
Blessed institutions, which, instead of veneering the top of 
society, send the schoolbook and the prayer-book to the 
lowliest, and electrify the great body of the people with 
an honorable ambition ! 

If a stranger were to offer his criticism upon IVIr. Lin- 
coln, I think the first characteristic of which he would 



speak, would be the extreme and charming Simplicity 
of the man. This is so marked a peculiarity, that no 
one can have failed to notice it. It is to be observed, 
not only in his daily talk, and in his always courteous 
bearing, but also in his public speeches, and in those 
documents some of Avhich are to become a part of our 
national literature. He was the most truly Republican 
President we have ever had. Accepting a position as 
important and as influential as that of the Emperor of 
France, he carried to the White House the rigid simplici- 
ty of his Illinois home ; and, in his endeavor to do the 
work, the arduous work of the hour, he forgot to put on 
any of the trappings or pomp of royalty. 

So noticeable was this peculiarity, that many of us 
regretted what we called a certain want of refinement. 
We would have had him keep in remembrance, that he 
was President of the United States ; but he could never 
ignore the fact, that he was simply Abraham Lincoln. 
To say what he meant was his ambition, and to mean 
what he said was a matter of honor. Perhaps he did 
not always indulge in court-language ; perhaps he was 
not as graceful as some lesser men have been ; but he 
always acted the wise, prudent, and manly part. He 
claims our forbearance for telling an apt story, for wit 
and sarcasm which sometimes seem out of place ; but he 
has no need to seek our forgiveness for connivance against 
the honor of the Republic. Grace of bearing is a good 
thing ; but unswerving integrity is sublime, even when it 
is awkward. For my own part, I am glad that we have at 
last had a President who scorned to use the privileges of 
his position for the study of the rules of politeness ; and 
Avho, a yeoman, would not ape the courts of Europe, but set 
himself at work to do a real service for his country, at a 
time when she had been robbed by so-called gentlemen 
of the first families, and must be set right, if at all, by the 



8 



great mass of the common people and their representa- 
tive. 

If you should look this broad continent over to find a 
man who came from the people ; who knew their wants 
and their troubles by experience ; who had been educated 
only in the schools of the people; who possessed their 
confidence ; who was proud of his ability to do them 
good; who had been led neither by scholarship nor ambi- 
tion to a forgetfulness of their exact condition, — in other 
words, if you should search this nation through to find a 
man Avho should be a true type of the America of to- 
day, — you could not discover one so fit for the purpose 
as Abraham Lincoln. In his earnestness and in his wit ; 
in his persistency and in his good humor; in all the 
angles of mind, character, and life, — he is the best man 
of this generation to show the strength and the peculiari- 
ties of the American. 

He was pure-minded, seeking not for himself, with 
unhallowed ambition of conquest ; but rather for his 
country, with the holy ambition of the patriot. He was 
pure-hearted, governed in all his dealings by a pervading 
sense of moral responsibility. He was unsuspicious, — 
alas, alas ! brethren, he was too unsuspicious ; he believed 
too much in the honor of those around him ; and for this 
reason he sleeps upon his bier, while a nation bends in 
tears because his slumber knows no waking. 

Another marked characteristic of the man was his 
religious faith, his often-avowed belief, that this people are 
in the especial keeping of Providence ; and that it was his 
duty as President to await the expressed will of God, and 
then to act. He was not of that company of heroes who 
win the sympathy of many by electing themselves men of 
destiny ; but he firmly believed that this nation is a nation 
of destiny, and was modest enough, ay, humble enough, to 
forget himself in his honest endeavor to obey the people's 



will. I (leli,-?!!! to linger on this part of our great leader's 
character ; for our public men have so often been mere 
politicians, winning their way to position by those various 
arts which are recognized as legitimate in the circles 
where they are used, but hardly looked upon with favor 
by an impartial religion, that it is exceedingly refreshing 
to know, that, in the time of our country's dire necessity, 
the highest officer of the nation Avas the humblest of us 
all, and sought to know the will of God before he listened 
to the will of man. I verily believe that the religious 
view of the war, — and this seems to me to be the sublim- 
est fact of the war, — which has pervaded every class in 
the community, and shown itself in the subdued manner 
in which, for the last two years, we have received the 
tidings of every great victory, is greatly due to the position 
assumed by Mr. Lincoln. How easily he could have 
stirred this people to acts of revenge, — acts which we 
might never cease to regret, — had he but issued a series 
of documents filled with revolutionary rhetoric ! But, 
instead of this, America has often been quieted in the 
hour of intensest excitement by the moral weight of our 
President's character and words. 

I do not speak thus as one who blindly praises the 
dead. I have no desire to lift Mr. Lincoln into the upper 
region of a faultless manhood. I have no wish to forget 
the fact, that he had faults, — ay, even grave faults, — in 
speaking of his virtues. At a more appropriate time, I 
may give you an estimate of his relation to, and influence 
upon, the age : but now our sorrow and our love are our 
only eloquence ; and, in reckoning the qualities which so 
endeared him to us, we will not forget that the tone of 
simple trust in God, which gave depth and beauty to 
nearly all his public documents, and which in private 
intercourse made so lasting an impression upon those who 
were privileged to take his hand, did much, very much, 



10 



even more than we knew at the time, to direct public 
opinion into those channels through which the popular 
feeling and excitement naturally flowed towards a reli- 
gious view of our national affairs. And who can tell 
the benefit of such a tendency, who knows how much 
of the moral strength of this people to-day comes from 
this fict ? 

Many a time have delegations of citizens gone to this 
First Citizen of America, and said, " Mr. Lincoln, this 
people believe that you have been providentially placed 
in your position for the salvation of the nation. Every 
village church in the land lifts its fervent petition in your 
behalf, and every loyal man feels that he may trust you 
to vindicate and establish his dearest rights ; " and the 
old man, instead of drawing himself up to his full height, 
and in courtly fashion receiving this language as hom- 
age done to himself, has bowed his head as in the pres- 
ence of sublime duties, and consecrated the memorv of 
the interview with tears. Brethren, these things are not 
often written in the biography of great men. 

One other characteristic of which I must not fail to 
speak was his Firmness. Justice has never been done to 
Mr. Lincoln in this respect. He was not one of those 
boisterous men who herald the fiict tliat they have strong 
wills, and who seem to act as though an unbending will 
was the chief element of heroism. He had his own way 
very quietly, yet he generally had his own way. He 
knew the value of advice when given by his peers, and 
was always courteous and deferential while it was being 
bestowed. But he held it in about the same estimation in 
which others of the world's best men have reijarded it, — 
a something which it is very necessary to receive, but not 
always necessary to heed. 

It is rather a peculiar fact in the history of his admin- 
istration, that, while so many have blamed him for lag- 



11 



ging behind the people, nearly all have thrown the odium 

of such sloth upon him personally, as though it were the 

natural tendency of his character, and not the result of 

any outside influence. The future historian will give him 

credit for a degree of determination in the establishment 

and execution of his public policy which may surprise us 

all. He made but little noise ; yet he is more responsible 

for the acts of his administration than any President we 

have had for many a year. 

And now he is gone. Alas ! a good man and a true 

man has been taken away. Steadily our love and respect 

for him has increased since 1860. He early won, and 

has steadfastly kept, our confidence in the progress of this 

tremendous struggle ; and now we may say, without fear 

of contradiction, that no man ever wielded such power, 

and made so few enemies. I repeat it : No man ever 

luielded such poiver during four successive years, — years of 

blood and sacrifice, of tears and death, — and made so few 

enemies, 

" He was a man, take him for all in all, 
We shall not look upon his Mke again." 

And now he is gone, — gone when we seemed to need 
him most, and when we loved him best, — gone from a 
good life to a better ; from the soldier's home on earth, 
to the soldier's home in heaven ; from his triumphs to his 
reward, — gone to the blessed company of great men who 
in times past have led the people on from sin to liberty, 
and laid down their lives as a willing sacrifice on 
the altar of promise. To-day, while we mourn, he sits 
in the council-chamber where martyrs and heroes are 
convened, — where are "Washington and Adams and Han- 
cock and Warren; and he is their peer in the love he 
bore his country, and the love his countrymen bore to 
him. 

O exalted spirit ! if you can spare a single moment to 

It 



12 



look down from those heavenly realms which have so 
lately burst upon your enraptured vision, upon our 
bereaved homes, you shall see how dear was the place 
you held in all our hearts. You have been the peo- 
ple's friend, and they put the evergreen of gratitude 
about your name. Calmly you have led us, wisely, 
tenderly, and yet firmly, through four times twelve 
months of woe. You have gone with us into the valley of 
defeat, where we have reckoned the fearful cost of life 
which was marking the uncertain progress of the war ; 
you have been with us when the glad tidings of victory 
came ; and we have always found you our friend, faithful 
and true, — our leader, just and wise. 

You need no monument to tell your worth. These 
tears are better than the marble shaft. These grateful 
hearts, which will tell the children who sleep in the cra- 
dle the wondrous story of the times through which we 
have lived," will not forget to say, that all the nation 
trusted, and all the people loved you. You shall live in 
the new America that is to be, and your best monument 
shall be your redeemed and free country. You were 
with us, with kind word of counsel, when with our voice 
we cried, " Our country shall be one and indivisible ! " and 
when a million men, the flower of the generation, stood 
side by side to battle and to die for the Union ; you were 
with us when the voice of the people was heard all over 
the world, saying, " Never more shall there be slave 
upon this soil ; hereafter all beneath the protecting folds 
of our flag shall be freemen ! " and when, in gratitude, 
two hundred thousand dusky braves sprang to arms, and 
fought for the honor of the country that dared to proclaim 
that they were men ; you were with us when the w^eak 
and worn enemy flew panic-striken from their last de- 
fences ; when the arch-traitor fled the avenging hand of 
justice, and hid himself in the SAvamps of the South and 



13 



the depths of his own crime ; and when the commander- 
in-chief of organized rebellion gave up his blood-stained 
sword to the noble chieftain who was the representative 
of order, union, and liberty, — and now you have gone. 
Nay, nay : we will not believe it. You are still with us, 
and you wuU be with us unto the end ! 

Brethren, we still trust in God. The meaning of this 
event we cannot read. We are not robbed of our faith ; 
and who shall dare to deny, that Lincoln dead may yet 
do more for America and Americans than Lincoln living f 

In my mind's eye, I see a stout and well-built ship 
lying a wreck upon hidden rocks. Bravely she has 
breasted the storms of a score of winters. She has 
battled with the tornadoes of Indian seas, bending her 
proud masts until the frenzied wave threw its furious 
spray upon the highest sail ; she has confronted Atlantic 
tempests ; and, when she came into port at last, was just 
enough defaced to prove the terrible character of the 
struggles from which she had come in triumph. She has 
brought her rich cargo of hopes and faith, of good laws 
and liberty ; and but yesterday, her cargo safely landed 
upon the wharf, she slipped her moorings, and playfully 
unbent her sails for an hour's enjoyment. But, alas ! 
there were rocks, hidden rocks, in the way, — rocks not 
laid down upon any chart, except the chart of Satan. 
She struck ; and tears filled our eyes as we saw the 
noble vessel, that had done her duty so well, lying there 
the victim of a mischief that could not have been fore- 
seen. So is it with our Country's Chief to-day. 



14 



II. 



DUTIES SUGGESTED BY THE NATIONAL 

GRIEF. 

ACTS XIV. 22: 

" We must through much Tribulation enter into the 

Kingdom of God." 

rriHIS morning, as the first rays of the sun waked me 
J- from the restless slumbers of the night, — for who 
could sleep quietly under the pressure of the sad news 
which has draped all our homes in mourning, — I had a 
dream, — a strange, unpleasant dream. I thought that I 
was one of a large company of men, who were standing 
huddled together beneath the shadows of a dark valley. 
Yonder, upon the mountain-top, was a flood of light ; but 
between us and it were mists and rocks and pestilence 
and dangers. "We groped our way blindly for a while, 
when suddenly there appeared in our midst a homely yet 
an earnest man, who told us he could lead us safely up 
through the mists to the sunlight. Cheerfully we gath- 
ered about our Chieftain. Day after day we toiled in the 
upward path, sometimes stumbling, sometimes falling, 
and bedewing the grass with our tears, yet believing that 
in the end we should reach the glorious summit. Sud- 
denly our hopes of success ripened into certainty. The 
dreary journey was well-nigh accomplished. We stood 
upon the very edge of the magic circle of the perfect day, 
when the heavens shook, and our leader was gone. He 
whose wisdom had been our reliance ; whose firm faith 
had so often cheered us ; who had been with us in every 



15 



danger of the toilsome path, increasing our love for, and 
our trust in Ijim with every new experience, — had, as by 
some fearful magic, vanished ; and another, a stranger, 
must be our leader. Rousing myself, to shake off the 
effects of the dream, my eye fell upon a flag fringed with 
black, and I cried, "Alas, alas, I have not been dreaming, 
after all ! 'Tis true, 'tis all too true, that the Moses of 
our America is dead ! Who shall tell us if there be a 
Joshua in the land ! " 

Brethren, how long we have lived in one short week ! 
Monday brought us tidings of a great victory ; and the 
very air seemed to tremble with the prophecy of peace. 
Twenty millions of men, who have been hoping and des- 
pairing for four years, were electrified with joy as the 
wires told us the wondrous story of the prowess of the 
Union army : how the slaveholders- were driven to 
the wall by Northern mechanics ; and how the military 
leader of organized rebellion, the representative and 
champion of a self-elected and arrogant chivalry, had 
presented his sword, in token of submission, to the brave 
general who was omnipotent for country and for free- 
dom. On Thursday this whole people gathered at the 
altar, and there sang songs of thanksgiving because there 
were no more battles to be fought, and no more graves to 
be dug. On Saturday, as though by a bolt from the 
clouds, we were stricken dumb with sorrow ; and strong 
men buried their faces in their hands and wept, forget- 
ting, for a day at least, their money and their ambitions 
in sincere grief for the loss of one so true, so noble, and 
so wise, as Abraham Lincoln. 

The time has not yet come when we can fairly meas- 
ure the mind and character of him we mourn. We are 
still sweeping round in the vortex of confusion and con- 
vulsion, whose wild forces he controlled ; but when, from 
the standpoint of some twenty years hence, we shall look 



16 



back upon these times, we shall do him justice. The 
heroes whom God raises up from the midst of civil disor- 
der, are not best known or understood by those who are 
riding on the Avild tide of events. We who are in middle 
life Avill scarcely live long enough to fix the position of 
Mr. Lincoln in our country's history. Our children, 
unprejudiced, impartial, can do it. They will be at such 
a distance from the cluster of mountains which these 
mighty times have upheaved, that they can calmly meas- 
ure the height of each. And I have firm faith, that as, 
in the old range of the Revolutionary war, the snowy 
top of Washington towers far above all others, his head 
continually crowned with the clouds of heaven, so in 
this new range, which is to take its place in the world's 
great map, the lofty head of Lincoln, the very twin of 
Washington, will rise above all other peaks, a landmark 
of history for all coming time. 

This morning I spoke briefly of the three prominent 
characteristics of this great American, — his Simplicity, 
his Faith, and his Firmness. And yet, there is nothing so 
remarkable in his short career — for, five years ago, he 
was scarcely known to any one of us — as the steadily 
gaining confidence of this people, which he challenged and 
obtained. The tide rose higher every month; and when it 
had seemingly reached its high-water mark, he died, and 
carried to heaven a nation's love, won by honest labor in 
the cause of liberty. No man ever had such a gloomy 
prospect before him as did he, when, four years ago, he 
reached the Capitol in spite of the snares of the asssassin. 
Six States had already declared themselves out of the 
Union. Davis had been proclaimed and inaugurated 
President of the Confederacy, which just now has neither 
local habitation nor a name. One hundred thousand 
men, frenzied with hatred of the North, their lips trem- 
bling with vows of sacrilegious allegiance to slavery, 



17 

stood, in serried column, ready to fight and die for their 
delusion. Our Treasury had been robbed ; our arsenals 
were empty ; our navy was at the uttermost parts of the 
earth ; our army was on the farm, in the workshop, 
warehouse, office, and pulpit. And now, though four 
years have passed, not only is the rebel army subjugated, 
but, what is better, the rebel idea is annihilated. Ameri- 
ca comes from the struggle all powder-stained and glory- 
covered : not a cross between slavery and freedom, but 
wholly and grandly free, and emancipated from the possi- 
bility of ever wearing the chain again. Remembering 
all this, brethren, it is with no common feeling of sorrow 
that we look upon this man robed in the vestments of the 
grave, while in our hearts we say, " He was always a 
true friend to the Republic." It is a proud title, and 
can be worn but by few. He wears it proudly, and adds 
a new value to its lustre. Be this the thought we put 
upon his tombstone : The more we knew him, the more we 
loved him. The more he luas tried by the common danger, 
the more he was trusted by the people. 

Happy is the man of whom such words can be truly 
spoken ; yet they are his fitting eulogy, and in them there 
is no fulsome praise. Because he loved the nation, it 
now weeps for him ; because he labored in our behalf, we 
hold him in affectionate remembrance ; and because he 
died for us, we will teach our children to speak his name 
with love and reverence. The grave will not hold him. 
He cannot be buried. Translated, he will still be with us. 
He sleeps in the heart of the Republic ; and, though seen 
no more, has become a vital part of our civilization. 

But this hour reads us many a solemn lesson to which 
we must give heed. Let us hear what it says : — 

I. It assures us that this appalling crime is not an ac- 
cident ; not the eccentricity of one man, inspired by hate 
or impelled by revenge, — but the natural culmination of 



18 



the policy of rebellion. It is only the inevitable and 
ultimate logical result of that spirit which has been fos- 
tered by the South for a whole generation. The ■whole 
matter can be stated with algebraic precision : 1 oz. of 
treason = 1 lb. of crime. Slavery never yet produced 
a race of really chivalric men, and it never will. The 
best society — I mean the society which gives us the 
greatest number of generous, devoted, and brave men — is 
always that in which the citizen is at once humbled and 
ennobled by labor. A race that thinks itself superior ; that 
WTites its own praises ; that affects to despise a man 
whose hands are not white, and delicate as a girl's ; that 
maintains its chivalric position by the duellist's pistol 
and the coward's knife, — is little fit to be part of a 
Republic, whose coat-of-arms is the browned picture of an 
honest workman. For years we have felt this. For years 
we have borne arrogance and insolence. For the sake of 
peace, we have sacrificed every thing ; ay, we even 
gashed our manhood, and became a police-force to search 
for men who would be free, and send them back to their 
masters and ours again. But it pleased not heaven that 
this should be the fate of America. The South, sure that 
Northern patriotism could be hidden in the mysterious 
folds of a dollar-bill, struck at the heart of our country. 
Its plan was conceived in infamy ; it was continued in 
cruelty ; it has been illustrated by murder ; and now, be- 
neath the sturdy blows of army and navy, it is just sinking 
to its sacrileojious and dishonorable ^rave. 

Brethren, I do not care to recall these facts. I do not 
wish to harrow up your feelings by reading the impartial 
page of history. But, standing within the shadow of this 
grief, it seems necessary that we should ask ourselves 
some serious questions about this work of treachery. I 
confess to you that I have searched the record through ; 
I have scanned page after page, to find something, some 



19 



little thing, to make me feel that this rebellion is not one 
vast, unmitigated crime, — and I have failed to find a 
sinsrle jjleam of lij»:ht in all the black darkness of the last 
four years. Treason began its career by attempting the 
life of the President, on his way to AVashington, — hoping, 
in the dread confusion, to seize the reins of Government, 
and compel the people into acquiescence to their plans. 
When it failed in this, it dug up from honorable graves 
our soldiers, and made amulets of those dear bones which 
were crumbling in the cause of liberty. It showed its 
animus at Fort Pillow, when in cold blood it butchered 
scores of men who wore the uniform of the United States. 
It systematically starved to death, not hundreds, no, nor 
thousands, but tens of thousands of the very flower of 
our youth, the pride of the generation, who had commit- 
ted no other crime than that of being loyal to the flag ; 
and, to-night, hidden in the black corners of their heaven- 
deserted country, are whole regiments of men who are 
praying for welcome death,, as the only release from suf- 
fering. 

Would that I mio;ht turn from these almost incredible 
facts ! Would that I might excuse this atrocity, by saying 
that the very air is full of exaggeration ! But, alas ! the 
truth is not all told yet ; nor can it be fully known until 
that dreadful day, when Mercy shall refuse to intercede in 
behalf of the criminal ; and when even stern Justice shall 
be wonder-stricken at the inhumanity of man to man. 
And now, driven by despair, all their hate exploding in 
one final act, they have hired the assassin's knife, and in 
the loss of our leader make us bedew our very victories 
with our tears. 

But, sirs, ye are too late. Ye have touched us to 
the quick by this fiendish act ; but ye have not maimed 
the strong arm that shall lay you low. Lincoln is dead, 
but America lives ! Of all men, your victim regarded 



20 



yon with tenderest pity. The only voice in all onr land 
that dared to plead in yonr behalf was his, whose tender 
heart could not harden itself against the sinner. You 
struck at your only hope when you lifted your hand 
against him, and blotted out your only chance of escape 
from the dreadful and merited punishment of your 
crimes. Twice you have made this people an unit : 
once, when the red-hot shot of rebellion ricochetted across 
the waters of Charleston bay, hitting the walls of Sumter 
with a dull and doleful sound, that melted twenty millions 
of freemen into a single giant ; and now, a second time, 
when you have killed our Chief, and caused such grief to 
mingle with our triumphs. But, be sure of this, we are 
stronger and more determined than ever. As, in days of 
yore, true Sir Knights put their swords upon the altar ere 
they went forth to battle, swearing to destroy oppression 
wherever it should be found ; so, standing within the ca- 
thedral shade of a nation's grief, our vow is registered, — 
to offer no terms of peace with rebels, and to give to trea- 
son nothing but the grave which it pollutes. 

Only a few speak in different tones. An unenviable 
few, who crawl upon their bellies through the mire of 
their own fatuity, and who in the dark rejoice at this 
fearful deed. Hardly human are they ; for, when their 
country's fortunes are low, they turn aside to laugh. 
Twenty years ago, they were the children of poverty, as 
most of our wealthiest men were. Had it not been for 
the genius of American institutions, they would to-day 
be mere drudges, living in the basement-story of our so- 
ciety. All they have, and all they are, they owe to the 
Government which they affect to despise. Shame, shame 
of such base ingrates ! There is no hope for them in this 
present life, — for all true men regard them with con- 
tempt, — and I think there is but the very ghost of a 
chance for them in the next life. 



21 



TI. Now that the terrible character of this rebellion 
has been illustrated, it behooves the North, if it bears 
any love towards its free institutions, to be sternly and 
tremendously just. If there is such a spirit as this in 
the land, — a spirit that will seek its own ends at any 
hazard, — that will employ the enginery of poison and 
assassination, — that does not scruple to strike at the 
sacred person of our great Chieftain, — it is our duty not 
to sleep until it is crushed. We must have no com- 
promise with it ; we must not enter into a treaty with it, 
any more than we would make a compact with Satan : 
we must talk, pray, legislate, and fight, until it is dead. 
I think that now we are thoroughly roused ; at least, I 
hope so. Alas, that it needed so dreadful a calamity to 
call us to our senses ! I hope we are determined to give 
things their right names. I have been pained beyond 
expression when in company, or on the street, or in the 
car, I have heard a disloyal man sneering at the Govern- 
ment ; uttering, arrogantly and impudently, his criticisms 
upon our soldiers and our cause, while his companion 
simply smiled, or adroitly turned the conversation. At 
the social board, men — of course they were not gentle- 
men — have given vent to loud-mouthed comments upon 
the Southern chivalry, and, through a false idea of polite- 
ness on the part of those who listened, have been unre- 
buked. Brethren, let that thing cease from this hour. 
When patriotism and politeness come into collision, let 
politeness bow itself out of the room, and leave you alone 
with your lofty love of your country. And hereafter, 
when one meets you on the wharf, or in the street, and 
dares to utter disloyal sentiments, brand him as a traitor, 
as he is, refuse to take his hand, treat him as your worst 
enemy ; for, if you have a dead boy beneath the sods of 
Virginia, that man helped to kill him. Point to the 
body of Abraham Lincoln, dead by the murderer's bullet, 



22 



and say, " Sir, that is your -work. Your doctrine, logi- 
cally carried out, is such a viper's brood of deeds as 
this." For myself, I very much fear that, under such 
circumstances, I should forget my clerical dignity, and 
remember only that I am a soldier in the army of the 
Lord. 

Brethren, you have at home a wife with whom you 
have toiled f <r many a year, — who, in many a time of 
struggle, has cheered you on in your dreary work ; and 
who, in many a dark night of doubt and financial per- 
plexity, has been a very star of heaven to you. You 
have felt the sacred weight of her head upon your shoul- 
der when some deep grief fell upon you, while your 
mingled tears have more perfectly melted your two hearts 
into one. You have, besides, fair daughters, — girls who 
have grown up into beautiful womanhood beneath your 
smile and protection. Now, tell me, suppose it came to 
your knowledge that deep-laid plans were on foot for 
your domestic ruin, that certain men had banded to- 
gether to rob your altar of its fire, your home of its 
treasure. Nay, more : suppose their machinations had 
succeeded so w^ell that your fairest girl had been laid 
upon her bier, and was now sleeping where the daisies 
blossom above her winding-sheet. If you should meet in 
the street one of the assassins, would you affably take his 
hand, lift your hat in salutation, and act as though he 
were your best friend ? Or would you spurn him from 
your presence, and refuse his offered hand as sternly as 
you would the hand of Satan ? So should you do to 
those whose hands are lifted against their country. 

Let us have done with this sickly sentimentality which 
encourages crime, because it dares not be impolite ; and 
let us get over this strange, bewildering fit of loose gen- 
erosity towards rebels, which we dignify as magnanimity, 
but which is really unwarrantable carelessness of our 



23 



duty. So wild has been our enthusiasm at the near 
prospect of peace, that we have been ready to give a sur- 
rendering force almost any terms they have chosen to 
demand, and have offered the parole of honor to thou- 
sands and thousands of men who never had a spark of 
that sacred feeling ; while it is a fact unparalleled in the 
history of warfare, that rebel uniforms disgrace the 
streets of Richmond, and officers in gray, with the shoul- 
der-straps of rebellion on, jostle familiarly against the 
soldiers of the Union, who have captured them in fair 
fight. Was such a thing ever heard of before ! Are we 
crazed by our triumphs, that we are so criminally negli- 
gent of the laws of self-protection ? I suppose there is no 
doubt whatever that Lee's officers held a carousal in 
Richmond on the night after the President's assassina- 
tion, in honor of that event ; and who knows but it was 
held in the very house where that assassination ivas planned 
months ago ? 

We have become too lax in our policy. I think we 
ought to solemnly demand two things of Government, as 
rights pertaining to our safety. First, that every officer 
and every soldier captured in war shall be kept in con- 
finement until the war is over. It is enough to ask of 
our soldiers that they endure the hardships of the march 
and the perils of the field once in the capture of these 
men. It is rather discouraging to meet Lee's army on 
the slope of the Alleghanies, to capture his force entire, 
and then, having paroled a large number, to meet them 
again under Johnston, and have to go through the pains 
and perils of the field a second time. Yet this has been 
done, to our certain knowledge, in times past, and we 
have no guarantee that it will not occur again. Second, 
it is our duty to demand that such punishment shall be 
meted out to rebellion as shall insure us against its pollu- 
tion in the future. For my own part, I think the chief 



24 



oifenders should be treated as other great criminals are 
treated : they should be tried, and, if proved guilty, hung 
until they are dead. This is not revenge ; it is not the 
result of a bad animus. The murderer's doom has been 
death, by every human law known to any civilized people. 
Then, is he to be reckoned guilty who kills one, and he 
deemed guiltless who murders a hundred thousand ? 

The rank and file, who have been deluded, a major 
part of whom can neither read nor write, who were 
dragged into the war without knowing what it was for, 
without knowing that they were to fight for their own 
degradation and enslavement, may be pardoned without 
injury to the country, though the country will not long 
be safe unless it puts the church and schoolhouse in their 
midst. But every ofiicer, of whatever grade, from the 
corporal to the general, should be, by solemn act of Con- 
gress, disqualified to hold any office imder the Govern- 
ment at any time in the future, and stripped of the right 
to vote at any election. And even that is the mildest 
possible form of punishment for such a crime. 

Never will I consent to balance your vote against that 
of one who has ever taken up arms against his country. 
You may have gone from your home and your babes, 
filled with a divine enthusiasm such as inspired the army 
of the Revolution. On a score of fields you may have 
met that very man. In striking at him, you struck for 
your country, to which you and he owe everything ; in 
striking at you, he struck — a base ingrate — against his 
country, and for a government whose purpose was — it 
has no purpose now, except to get to Europe with the 
gold it has stolen — to bind the fetters tighter upon the 
hands of millions. And shall he, when fairly beaten by 
the prowess of such as you, when our Government is 
firmly established, — shall he come up to the ballot-box 
and deposit there his vote as an oftset to yours ? Is that 



25 



right ? Is it just to the million men who sprang to arms 
in 18G1 ? It must not, Avill not, be. 

III. There is another duty of which I must not fail to 
speak. It is that which we owe to him who now holds 
the reins of Government in his firm and skilful hands. I 
believe him to be one of the greatest and truest men of 
this age of great men. Yes : I say age of great men. I 
know that many are in the habit of looking into the past 
for their heroes, with the feeling that the days of great 
men have passed. But I believe that no single generation, 
since the pilgrim fathers consecrated Plymouth Rock by 
their heroism, has produced a larger number of men who 
have something of true greatness about them than this 
one in which we live. Twenty years from now our chil- 
dren will look upon these times, and tell their boys that 
" There w^ere giants in those days.'* And among them, 
perhaps head and shoulders above them all, will be the 
manly figure of Abraham Lincoln ; while, standing by 
his side, with proportions that will call for nearly equal 
admiration, will be the conspicuous form of Andrew 
Johnson. Truly we can say, that the country is in good 
hands. Though the duties of the hour are arduous, 
requiring courage, firmness, and a stern sense of justice, 
we may yet have the fullest confidence in this new leader. 
There is little danger that he will yield to the slightest 
demand of rebellion. He believes in the iron hand, and 
knows how to use it. His is no theoretical knowledge of 
the great questions at stake. He was born under the 
blighting shadows of slavery. He lived Avithin the magic 
circle where these fearful spirits of devastation were 
conjured up, and in his own early life was one of the 
victims of that class of men called the chivalry. When 
the war broke out, he resisted it with all his might. He 
was both feared and hated by our enemies. His life was 
threatened ; his wife and children were taken prisoners ; 



26 



and yet he remained a Union man, defying the traitors 
in their own stronghold. No menaces could intimi- 
date, no bribes could buy him. He stood by his coun- 
try when less daring men fled in terror ; and, as the 
reward of his unswerving loyalty, he was raised to one 
of the highest offices in the gift of a grateful people. 
Since then, God has called him to the one only office that 
is higher. Immense responsibilities are on him. He 
cannot bear them unless the people enthusiastically come 
to his aid, and help him. Forget whatever is unpleasant 
in the past ; and, as you gave your love to him who has 
just passed on, now give your loyalty to him whom Provi- 
dence has given us for this important hour. We will 
sing our songs of peace and good-will over the departed ; 
nay, we will cease this busy hum of business for a while, 
forget our money-making, and weep tears of gratitude 
that, in our dire distress, we had so noble a leader, so 
faithful and true a friend, as Abraham Lincoln. But, 
brethren, the great work calls, and calls loudly ; we can- 
not hesitate long, even for a service so sacred as this. 
With hearts dedicated to the great future, all the more 
singly by the grief they bear, we will go forth to toil for 
our native land under the Elisha upon whose shoulders 
has fallen the mantle of the translated Elijah. 

So have I seen a sturdy ship slip her moorings, while 
the heavens were lowering, and go proudly forth to battle 
with the storm. Hour after hour her bows plunged 
through the opposing waves, which, maddened to fury, 
dashed themselves to pieces against her iron sides. Often 
her tall masts bent to the gale as though they would 
break, while her strong sails were riven and torn by the 
sudden blast. The relentless waters swept over her deck, 
and ever and anon carried to a watery grave some one 
of the brave crew. Still, all storm-scarred as she was, 
she made headway, and promised to reach the still waters 



27 



beneath the horizon at last. Suddenly, while officers and 
crew stood appalled, the black clouds overhead opened 
their fiery mouths, and while the deep-toned moaning 
thunder went echoing from wave to wave, the fatal shaft 
struck down the helmsman at the very moment when he 
was plying all his energies for the safety of the vessel. 
It is not strange that men's cheeks blanched as they saw 
the sight. It is not strange that a kind of fear froze 
their blood for an instant ; for, though accustomed to the 
sight of death, they could not be prepared for this. For 
a single moment the goodly vessel felt the shock. Her 
sails back-filled, she put her gunwale beneath the seeth- 
ing wave, and the stoutest hearts trembled. But only 
for an instant. This fear did but flit through the mind, 
and then vanish. For standing by the wheel was the 
brave man, second in command, who sprang over the dead 
body of his superior officer of an hour before, and with a 
giant's power grasped the wheel. The vessel felt it in an 
instant. Righting again, obedient to the stern command 
of her master, she plunged with renewed vigor into the 
waves, and battled until the storm was over, and the still 
waters of peace were reached. 

So, brethren, it will be with our country. We trusted 
Lincoln, — we will trust Johnson ; and, above all, we will 
trust in God. 



^sr^' 




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i H.EM. 



r r^m. 



